Fresno State continues to push Big 12 expansion; university president involved in talks
Fresno State continues to push its expansion prospects with the Big 12 with an ongoing dialogue that includes conversations between athletics director Terry Tumey and conference officials and what an industry source said was a lengthy sit-down between university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark.
Tumey, who is in Arizona for the Bulldogs’ baseball opening weekend at the MLB Desert Invitational, declined to comment Friday on any discussions between the university and the Big 12.
But Yormark has made no secret the Big 12 is targeting the late-night TV slots on the West Coast during football season and a conference that spans coast to coast, which puts Fresno State in play in a next round of expansion.
The wild card in the equation is the Pac-12 (or Pac-10, with UCLA and USC jumping to the Big Ten in 2024), which is meandering toward its next media rights deal. The 10 remaining schools in the league are expected to stick together if the conference can sign contracts with an annual value in the same range as the Big 12 and Yormark landed in October. Big 12 members will receive around $31.6 million a year through 2031.
But even if the Pac-12 sticks together, the value remains for the Big 12 in the 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. TV windows.
“I think the 7:30 p.m. Pacific window is of enough value for the Big 12 to go after a non-Power Five school to be able to consistently play in the window,” Bob Thompson, the former president of Fox Sports Networks, said in an interview with The Bee last November.
“The cable sports networks like to have games in that window. There’s not as much competition at that time, as well. At most you have a Pac-12 game and maybe a Mountain West game in that window on a consistent basis. If the Big 12 wants to be truly national in scope, it’s going to need to have some schools from the Pacific time zone.”
Fresno State officials, the source said, continue to push that as well as a stake in television markets that include Fresno (No. 55 largest), Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto (No. 20) and Bakersfield (No. 125) and a football program that has a fan base reengaging with the university and athletics department at a level not seen in decades.
The Bulldogs in becoming the first team in history to start 1-4 and finish 10-4 played in front of an average of 39,067 at Valley Children’s Stadium last season, the third-highest average attendance among Group of Five conference programs and the highest at Fresno State since it averaged 39,306 in 2005.
The Bulldogs finished the season ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for only the fourth time in program history and won a second Mountain West Conference championship in four seasons under coach Jeff Tedford. When it won its first in 2018 it averaged only 31,503 at what then was known as Bulldog Stadium.
The Bulldogs’ five-year average attendance is up by 28%, which is the sixth-highest increase in the nation and considerably higher than any West Coast program. UNLV, which moved into Allegiant Stadium, is second in the Mountain West with an increase of 16.5%, and Utah is the highest in the Pac-12 at 9.8%.
Fresno State also is targeting a renovation of the aging Valley Children’s Stadium, and other athletics facilities on campus. Jiménez-Sandoval said at the start of the football season that he hoped to have a clear direction with a renovation plan by early 2023.
“Future investment in our facilities, namely our football stadium, is critical to the long-term success of our athletics program and has the potential to be a significant boost to the quality of life in our region,” Jiménez-Sandoval told The Bee in September.
“Perhaps no other event in our diverse Central Valley has the power to gather and unite over 41,000 people behind one common cause like Fresno State football games do six times every fall season.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2023 at 5:07 PM.